Hello comrades, it’s time for our first discussion thread for The Will to Change! Please share your thoughts below on the first two sections of the book. There’s quite a lot to talk about between hooks’ discussion of masculinity discourse within feminist circles, the ways both men and women uphold patriarchy, and the near universal experience of men being forced to suppress their rich emotional worlds from a young age. I’ll be posting my thoughts in a little bit after I’m done with work.
If you haven’t read the book yet but would like to, its available free on the Internet Archive in text form, as well as an audiobook on Youtube with content warnings at the start of each chapter, courtesy of the Anarchist Audio Library, and as an audiobook on our very own TankieTube! (note: the YT version is missing the Preface but the Tankietube version has it) Let me know if you’d like to be added to the ping list!
Our next discussion will be on Chapters 2 (Understanding Patriarchy) and 3 (Being a Boy), beginning on 12/4.
Thanks to everyone who is or will be participating, I’m really looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts! 
I really appreciate her position of compassion. Patriarchy really does trap many men in a cage and they rage against it without fully understanding what it is that fuels that rage. To see that kind of anger and approach as one would a wounded animal really touched me. I never really conformed to most cultural standards of masculinity even though I’m cis and heterosexual, and I have felt the contradiction of being outside the norm and sensing from a young age that a lot of “being a man” felt forced and unhealthy, yet still yearning to be a part of it so I would feel more accepted. I appreciate this book for being such a good place to recognize the hurt that exists and to move towards healing.